Abstract:
Objective: The objective of this study was to explore surgical patients’ experiences of preoperative and
intraoperative nursing care.
Materials and methods: The study was conducted at the Regional Hospital, Bolgatanga, Ghana and
employed a qualitative explorative descriptive design. Purposive sampling technique was used to recruit
participants. The data was saturated with 15 participants aged between 23 and 65 years. All the interviews
were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim.
Results: The nurses reassured, counseled and pre-habilitated patients where necessary. They also provided
physical care to patients but failed to involve patients in their care. Nurses did not take patients’
medical history. Nurses poorly managed patients’ pain during surgery and safety measures were not adequately
employed resulting in some patients sustaining minor injuries due to poor usage of theatre
equipment such as diathermy machines. Nurses also provided inadequate information to patients and
this resulted in patients being confused and anxious.
Conclusions: The study showed that some nurses require further training to provide better care to their
surgical patients.
